Win it for Hudy: Kansas University’s players dedicated the victory and their fourth-straight league title to strength and conditioning coach Andrea Hudy.
Hudy’s mom, Mary, died on Saturday morning after a battle with cancer.
“It all started this morning when our strength and conditioning coach’s mom died. She asked us to come back with another ring. It was for her,” KU’s Darrell Arthur said.
Hudy did not make the trip to College Station. She flew to her home state of Pennsylvania this weekend.
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Rush’s dunk awesome: Freshman center Cole Aldrich was amazed at a vicious dunk in the closing minutes by Brandon Rush.
“We’d like to see him do that more. It was nasty,” Aldrich said.
It was one of Rush’s two buckets on a day he missed seven shots.
“It was good to get a lot of aggression out,” Rush said. “I was shooting too many floaters, not taking it to the hole real strong. I just got fed up, like, ‘Man, I’ve got to dunk on somebody before the game is over.’ It was nasty.”
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Stitches: Aldrich has been wearing a wrap on his right hand during games for a reason.
“I got stitches in my hand a few weeks ago. It’s feeling better,” he said.
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No bubbly on hand: The Jayhawks didn’t pop open champagne in the locker room to celebrate their fourth straight league crown.
“That’s for tonight,” the 22-year-old Rush cracked.
“This is really special. The seniors were holding up four fingers; me and ‘Rio’ (Mario Chalmers) were holding up three (in locker room),” Rush added.
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Not many seeds set: The Big 12 office reports that just four seeds are decided for the Big 12 tournament entering today’s final two games of the regular season.
Kansas State is the No. 3 seed, Oklahoma No. 4, Baylor No. 5 and Texas A&M No. 6.
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Stats, facts: KU has won at least a share of eight Big 12 titles in the league’s 12 years of existence. KU has won a nation’s-best 51 conference crowns. … KU has won four straight league titles for the sixth time in school history and first time since 1995-98. … KU has won 36 of its last 39 regular-season games and is 42-4 over the last 46. … KU is 12-1 all-time versus A&M and 5-0 in Reed Arena. … KU has won at least 13 league games for the seventh time in 12 years and third year in a row. KU has won at least 11 games in each year of the Big 12. … Chalmers improved to seventh on KU’s all-time list for three-pointers made. He has cashed 158 treys. … KU finished the conference season with 91 blocks, which ranks fifth all-time at KU. … Arthur collected his 100th blocked shot.
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Good to see Danny: Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon was happy to see his old teammate, Danny Manning, Saturday on KU’s bench.
“I’m happy for him because he is getting to do what he loves,” Turgeon told the Texas A&M Battalion. “He loves basketball, and especially Kansas basketball. He was a great player, and he made me better when we played together.”
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Turg pleases AD: A&M athletic director Bill Byrne told the Dallas Morning News he’s satisfied with Turgeon’s work his first season in College Station.
“I think the first year that any coach takes over another team is always extremely difficult,” Byrne told the paper. “You don’t have a relationship with the athletes that has been developed the way the previous coach has.
“Having said that, I think Mark has done a remarkably good job in taking over a team that had a lot of success previously but lost three outstanding veterans (Acie Law, Antanas Kavaliauskas, Marlon Pompey) that contributed to our success.”
Of some of Turgeon’s brash remarks this season, including saying he’s in a “no flippin’ win” situation because if he wins it’s because of ex-coach Billy Gillispie’s players and if he loses it’s because of his own performance, Byrne told the paper: “I think that Mark is an extremely honest coach. You don’t get a lot of coach-speak from him, and I think media like that a lot because he’s direct. But they’ll use that against him. As Mark learns what the media market is like here, you’ll eventually get less descriptive words.”
Swagger’s back: Kansas University’s basketball team seems to have bonded since a disappointing one-point loss Feb. 23 at Oklahoma State.
“We have a swagger again, not anything cocky,” senior Darnell Jackson said after KU’s third straight victory, a 109-51 dismantling Monday of Texas Tech.
“It happened at practice after we lost at OSU. A lot of guys realized, ‘This is it. We can’t keep losing. We can’t go out in the first round.’ We said, ‘Everybody has to bring it every game the rest of the way.'”
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Long passes: Jackson had a pair of assists on three-quarter-court passes.
“If the NFL needs me to play quarterback in place of (Donovan) McNabb, I’m there,” he said with a smile.
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Coach talk: KU coach Bill Self apologized to Tech coach Pat Knight in the handshake line after the game.
“He’s great. He said, ‘It’s not your fault,”‘ Self said, “because we did play guys. They couldn’t throw it in the ocean (18-of-62 shooting for 29 percent). I’m certainly glad we had a chance to play everybody, but nobody likes to win that way, by that margin. The Big 12 player of the week (Brandon Rush) plays 10 minutes tonight. How many times is that going to happen?”
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Rush lauded: Rush and Baylor’s Kevin Rogers on Monday were named co-Big 12 Players of the Week.
Rush averaged 18.0 points in victories over Iowa State and Kansas State. Rogers averaged 18.0 points and 11.5 rebounds in victories over Colorado and Missouri.
It’s the fourth career weekly honor for Rush, who was named rookie of the week three times his freshman season.
He’s the second Jayhawk to earn the honor this season. Jackson was co-player of the week Jan. 25.
Kansas State’s Michael Beasley was tapped rookie of the week Monday for the eighth time this season. He has been player of the week twice.
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Stats, facts: KU’s nine threes in the second half tied a school record. In all, KU made a season-best 14 threes in 24 tries … KU had a season-best 27 assists. … Cole Aldrich had his first double-double (11 points, 11 boards). … Brad Witherspoon hit two free throws for his first points of the season. … Chase Buford, the only Jayhawk not to score, had the first block and steal of his career. … KU went 20-0 at home this season and has won 24 straight home games. … KU has scored 100 points six times under Self. … KU outrebounded Tech, 54-24. The 54 boards were a season high. … Six Jayhawks scored in double figures for the first time all year.
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KU deserves mention: Self on Monday said he hoped the Jayhawks’ balanced scoring attack wouldn’t cost the team in all-league voting.
“In my personal opinion, I’d be disappointed if we don’t have at least a couple of guys on the first team, more than that on the first two teams, but it’s up to the voters to decide,” he said.
Self was asked by a reporter on the coaches’ weekly teleconference if he could list his players in order of importance. The coach couldn’t do that.
“Darrell Arthur is our leading scorer. Mario Chalmers was our best performer the first half of the season. Darnell Jackson is our most improved (player). Brandon Rush has been our best performer the second half of the season. If you ask me who our best player is I’d say, ‘Wait until the game tonight.’ I don’t even know,” Self said.
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NCAA Tourney talk: Self said he thought the Big 12 should have six teams in the upcoming NCAAs. His reasoning is the league has the second-best RPI in the country, based on strong performances in nonconference games.
“If RPI matters in looking at individual teams, it should matter for conferences,” Self said. “The Big 12 was hurt the last couple of years in being fifth or sixth (in RPI). Now, being second should help us. There are a lot of .500 teams (in conference). That’s because the league is so good. Six is very realistic.”
Rodrick Stewart, who played one season at USC before leaving his brother Lodrick and transferring to KU, was jeered during the game.
“Lodrick’s better,” the student section chanted repeatedly.
“They did the same thing to my brother last year. We were just joking about that,” said Rodrick, standing next to Lodrick, who heard chants, ‘Rodrick’s better,’ last season in a USC loss at Allen Fieldhouse.
“It was cool. I thought it’d be worse,” Stewart said of the reception he received. “They (USC students) wished I never left. It’s just part of the game.”
Stewart finished with four points off 2-of-7 shooting with seven rebounds, one assist and five turnovers in 29 minutes.
“I was anxious. I was nervous before the game,” said Stewart, whose dad, Bull, made the trip from Seattle.
KU coach Bill Self thought Stewart played “well. We don’t win the game without Rod cause we’re so beat up (with Sherron Collins and Tyrel Reed out and Brandon Rush not 100 percent). He gave us great minutes, competed hard.”
¢ Three of four: Sasha Kaun, who entered the game a 37 percent free thrower, made three of four free throws, all in the second half.
“It was a close game at the time. It was good to make them and help the team,” Kaun said.
His two free throws gave KU a 45-42 lead with 9:28 left. He hit one of two at 3:05, giving KU a 54-45 advantage.
“I’ve been trying to work on them. Most of it is mental,” Kaun said. “You go to the free-throw line, you have to be relaxed.”
¢ Board work impressive: Darnell Jackson grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds. KU outboarded USC, 42-30.
“We tried to crash the glass, even the guards,” Jackson said. “Our mind-set was to come out and fight, keep going after the ball.”
¢ Milestone: Mario Chalmers had three steals to become just the fifth player in KU history to have 200 career steals.
¢ Injury update: Self said Reed (sprained ankle) is close to 100 percent and could have played if needed. He said Collins, who is out following surgery to repair a stress fracture in his foot, “hopefully is days, not weeks” removed from returning to practice.
¢ Stats, facts: KU has defeated four of its last five ranked opponents. USC entered No. 22. … KU suffered its first halftime deficit of the season at 27-25. … KU forced 18 turnovers. The Jayhawks have forced 18 or more in every game this season. … KU held USC to 38.5 percent shooting and has now held six of seven opponents to under 50 percent and held foes under 50 percent 78 times in the last 81 games. … USC was the first team to outshoot KU this season (38.5 to 37.9).
¢ Who’d figure? Rush grabbed a lob pass and missed a layup; Russell Robinson fell down at midcourt and suffered a turnover. After those miscues, USC assistant coach Rudy Hackett received a technical foul, and KU went on a 9-0 run to turn a 45-45 tie into a 54-45 lead.
¢ I love L.A.: Rodrick Stewart is a walking advertisement for the city of Los Angeles.
“It was great, man,” Stewart said of his year and a half at USC. “There’s just something about L.A. It’s a great place. There’s so much to get into. The people are nice … the ones I met. I don’t hang around negative people. It was a great place to be.”
¢ Good in football, too: USC defeated UCLA, 24-7, in football on Saturday, wrapping up a bid to the Rose Bowl just a day before the KU-USC hoops game. Which sport is more important to the West Coasters?
“They just care about winning,” Stewart said of USC sports fans. “It’s the same as KU. It’s all about winning, bringing home titles and trophies in all sports.”
¢ Twin update: Stewart’s twin brother, Lodrick, who played four years of basketball at USC, now plays for the Anaheim, Calif., entry in the NBA Developmental League.
“I think he’ll make the NBA, without a doubt,” Rodrick said. Lodrick averaged 4.0 points a game through three games.
¢ D-League news: Ex-Jayhawk Keith Langford scored 22 points in Austin, Texas’ 119-95 victory over Colorado on Friday night. Former KU guard Billy Thomas had 14 points for Colorado. Langford is averaging a robust 25.7 points a game this season, while Thomas is averaging 13.2 points. Langford has hit 56.7 percent of his shots. He also averages 5.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists.
Jackson to enroll in 2nd summer school
Kansas University sophomore Darnell Jackson, who has been understandably dejected following the death last month of his grandmother, will attend second session of summer school, which starts Tuesday.
“I haven’t talked to Darnell’s mother in the last 24 hours. I have talked to Darnell. He’s doing well,” KU coach Bill Self said of Jackson, who considered fellow Oklahoma City native J.R. Giddens, who left the squad Thursday, one of his best friends on the team.
Jackson’s mom, Shawn, is in Oklahoma City recovering from broken bones sustained in the wreck that claimed the life of Evon Jackson.
Self said Jeff Hawkins, who already had received his undergraduate degree, wouldn’t attend second session of summer school.
“Almost everybody will be taking classes. Maybe one or two will be up here the majority of the time, but will not be taking classes,” Self said.
Next stop for Giddens?
Major Div. I conference
Giddens on Friday started the process of looking for a new school. Self said releases would be granted to any school interested in the ex-Jayhawk.
“We’ll do everything we can to assist him, if in fact he solicits that,” Self said.
Wichita TV station KAKE quotes sources close to Texas Christian’s program as saying Neil Dougherty is interested in being reunited with Giddens. Former KU assistant and current Horned Frog head coach Dougherty recruited Giddens to KU.
It is believed Giddens is interested only in major Division One conferences. A transfer within the Big 12 is unlikely because he would lose a year of eligibility as well as have to sit out a year.
Giddens might consider joining a buddy.
Adam Liberty, a teammate of Giddens’ at John Marshall High, recently transferred from Wichita State to Oral Roberts.
D’Angelo Alexander, a former AAU teammate of Giddens’, transferred to Charlotte last school year. The former University of Oklahoma player reportedly made the Charlotte honor roll and will likely recommend the school to Giddens.
Florida State, coached by former Oklahoma State mentor Leonard Hamilton, also has been mentioned as an early possibility.
It’s believed North Carolina would have no interest; the Tar Heels have several players at Giddens’ position. Also, former KU coach Roy Williams likely would feel Giddens has two strikes against him. Williams was not pleased Giddens was arrested in high school for conspiracy to commit grand larceny from a retailer, though the player eventually was cleared of charges.
“If he wants to be a superstar to get to the next level, Oral Roberts makes sense,” said Greg Swaim, recruiting analyst based in Oklahoma City. “Dennis Rodman played at Southeast Oklahoma and Scottie Pippen at Central Arkansas. If you are good, you’ll be seen. I’m sure a lot of schools will want him. He’s a good player, although I thought he shot Kansas out of some games last year.”
Simien’s offering
Ex-Jayhawk Wayne Simien threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Kansas City Royals-Angels game on Friday at Kauffman Stadium. Simien’s toss bounced on the plate and caromed past K.C.’s Shane Costa. Simien smiled as he walked off the mound, throwing his hands in the air as if to tease Costa for not catching his offering.
Another “package deal?”: Kansas State on Friday announced the hiring of Ben Kelso as the team’s new assistant coach. Kelso, 58, spent the past season as the head boys’ basketball coach at Central High School in Detroit, where he coached incoming Wildcat freshman Deilvez Yearby.
— Gary Bedore
6Sports video: Jayhawks prepared to move on without Giddens
Self, KU look to future without Giddens (07-02-05)